For Monday, animal proteins were called steady for the start of the week. Several participants are currently traveling for The Jacobsen Conference in Chicago while others communicated testing the market since unease has been high.

For the week ending May 20^th, 2023, hog slaughter is forecast at 2.350 million head, a 2.2 percent decrease from 2022 and a 1.1 percent drop from the prior week. According to the USDA Actual Slaughter Under Federal Inspection for April 29^th, average live weights were at 291 pounds. Over the next six weeks, hog slaughter is expected to average 2.325 million head per week, 0.9 percent over 2022 but 0.3 percent lower from 2021 levels for the…